By Our Reporter
As Chinese ambassador Yu Hong, while delivering her speech at a seminar on Belt and Road Initiative organised by the Nepal-China Friendship Society on Sunday, had informed that she is returning soon, the Kathmandu Post reported that she has been recalled before completing her tenure here.
Some diplomatic sources have informed to this reporter that the information that she is returning soon is correct, but she has not been recalled before completing her tenure.
According to sources, normally, a Chinese ambassador’s tenure will be for two years or three years. Many Chinese ambassadors in the past have also returned just by completing less than two years, but they were rewarded with responsible jobs in Beijing. In the case of Ambassador Yu, who had assumed office on November 2016, she is going to complete her tenure next month and as per the normal practice, she is returning to Beijing.
TKP, quoting diplomatic sources, has stated that Beijing has proposed Hou Yanqi, currently the deputy director general at the Chinese Foreign Ministry, as its 21st ambassador to Nepal. The decision is said to have been communicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After Kathmandu’s green signal, Chinese President Xi Jinping will announce her nomination.
TKP further reports: Ambassador Yu Hong took up her assignment in November 2016 and served two years in Kathmandu. During her tenure, Nepal signed an agreement on the Belt and Road Initiative with China while some high-level visits took place from both sides. According to sources, the sitting ambassador has been promoted to joint-secretary. The proposed candidate, Hou is well known among Nepali politicians and officials.
Hou is the focal person for South Asian affairs in the Asia department of the Chinese foreign ministry. She is familiar with Nepal’s affairs and Beijing’s engagement in Kathmandu, said sources.
While Foreign Ministry officials refused to comment, Foreign Minister Pardeep Gyawali, ahead of his visit to Japan, had a discussion with the Chinese side on the developments. Having joined the Chinese foreign service in 1996, Hou is in her early 50s and has served in Pakistan in China’s Consulate General Office and also in Los Angles in the USA. She is a Peking University graduate with Urdu major.